person and earthly life of Jesus Christ as to be thereby shown to have been designed to apply to
him. And if they were designed to apply to him, prophetical prediction is proved. Objections have,
been urged. We notice only one, vis., vagueness. It has been said that the prophecies are too darkly
and vaguely worded to be proved predictive by the events which they are alleged to foretell. But
to this might be answered,
•That God never forces men to believe, but that there is such a union of definiteness and vagueness
in the prophecies as to enable those who are willing to discover the truth, while the willfully blind
are not forcibly constrained to see it.
•That, had the prophecies been couched in the form of direct declarations, their fulfillment would
have thereby been rendered impossible or at least capable of frustration.
•That the effect of prophecy would have been far less beneficial to believers, as being less adapted
to keep them in a state of constant expectation.
•That the Messiah of revelation could not be so clearly portrayed in his varied character as God
and man, as prophet, priest and king, if he had been the mere teacher.”
•That the state of the prophets, at the time of receiving the divine revelation, was such as necessarily
to make their predictions fragmentary figurative, and abstracted from the relations of time.
•That some portions of the prophecies were intended to be of double application, and some portions
to be understood only on their fulfillment, Comp. (John 14:29; Ezekiel 36:33)
Proselyte
(a stranger, a new comer), the name given by the Jews to foreigners who adopted the Jewish
religion. The dispersion of the Jews in foreign countries, which has been spoken of elsewhere
[Dispersion, The Jews Of The, THE], enabled them to make many converts to their faith. The
converts who were thus attracted joined, with varying strictness, in the worship of the Jews. In
Palestine itself, even Roman centurions learned to love the conquered nation built synagogues for
them, (Luke 7:5) fasted and prayed, and gave alms after the pattern of the strictest Jews, (Acts
10:2,30) and became preachers of the new faith to the soldiers under them. (Acts 10:7) Such men,
drawn by what was best in Judaism were naturally among the readiest receivers of the new truth
which rose out of it, and became, in many cases, the nucleus of a Gentile Church. Proselytism had,
however, its darker side. The Jews of Palestine were eager to spread their faith by the same weapons
as those with which they had defended it. The Idumaeans had the alternative offered them by John
Hyrcanus of death, exile or circumcision. The Idumeans were converted in the same way by
Aristobulus. Where force was not in their power, they obtained their ends by the most unscrupulous
fraud. Those who were most active in proselytizing were precisely those from whose teaching all
that was most true and living had departed. The vices of the Jew were engrafted on the vices of the
heathen. A repulsive casuistry released the convert from obligations which he had before recognized,
while in other things he was bound hand and fool to an unhealthy superstition. It was no wonder
that he became “twofold more the child of hell,” (Matthew 23:15) than the Pharisees themselves.
We find in the Talmud a distinction between proselytes of the gate and proselytes of righteousness,
•The term proselytes of the gate was derived from the frequently occurring description in the law
the stranger that is within (Exodus 20:10) etc. Converts of thy gates this class were not bound by
circumcision and the other special laws of the Mosaic code. It is doubtful however whether the
distinction made in the Talmud ever really existed.
•The proselytes of righteousness, known also as proselytes of the covenant, were perfect Israelites.
We learn from the Talmud that, in addition to circumcision, baptism was also required to complete
frankie
(Frankie)
#1